
The bleachers were full and the grass berms surrounding the Ocala Horse Properties Stadium were lined with spectators for Sunday’s $50,000 Ring Power Grand Prix, and fans were treated to an exciting class with a race to the finish. Kristen VanderVeen from St. Charles, Illinois, came out on the top with an all-out gallop to the finish on Bull Run’s Faustino de Tili.
“I haven’t had him that long,” VanderVeen said of the winning horse, owned by Bull Run Jumpers Five, LLC. “This is maybe my sixth or seventh class with him. I got him in Belgium and he’s the first made-up horse I’ve ever had. He was already showing and doing quite well so when he got here he was ready to go. Today the distances just showed up.”
Forty-two top quality horses competed over the 470 meter course, which was the longest course of the day. Brazilian Course Designer Anderson Lima set the course to National Standards and while the distances were friendly, many fences were set at maximum heights. The verticals were set as high as 1.53 meters and the Sore No-More vertical at fence eight was responsible for faults 16 times. The Brook Ledge oxer at fence 10 was also the source of many faults. It was the biggest fence on the course, set at both maximum height and width. Only seven horses had clear first rounds and moved on to the jump-off.
The jump-off consisted of nine efforts with three fences that had not been included in the first round. The third element in a triple combination in the first round was removed and the opening line was a bending seven or eight strides. Two double combinations were included back-to-back, and long gallops to the final two fences offered the opportunity to shave corners for faster times.
First to jump-off was S & L Elite, owned by S & L Farms, with Dorothy Douglas from Flower Mound, Texas. They left out a stride in the first line and were on track for a great trip when they tripped the back rail of the oxer at 7a for four faults in 52.141, which earned them sixth place.
Read More: http://www.worldofshowjumping.com/All-other-events/Kristen-Vanderveen-and-Bull-Run-s-Faustino-de-Tili-win-Ring-Power-Grand-Prix.html